Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up!
Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
"Follow not what wise men say, follow instead in their footsteps." (Old Zen Saying). Meaning that in order to reach the levels of elevated consciousness that these wise men achieved, you must live the life that they did, or, "Follow in their footsteps" in order to reach those lofty plateaus. Only reading and following their words doesnt work.
The New Testament, which according to the Gnostic Gospels (which were conveniently excluded amongst the few hand-picked Gospels of the Catholic Church that originated Christianity) portrays Christ as leading a simple life and trying to show us how to find peace within. And that we are all Sons of God.
But contemporary Christians do not follow in Christ's footsteps. Instead, they take selective, self-serving quotes out of the Old Testament that supports their thirst for accumulations of material and psychological things, and open the floodgates to acquisition, ambition, wealth and accumulation.
Old Testament views proclaim the accumulation of stuff as a spiritual pursuit, where just the opposite is true. Accumulations, whether they be large screen TVs, large families, large beliefs, stock portfolios, or large egos, are a burden on the human mind. Accumulation does nothing but induce fear into a mind that is naturally fear free.
I believe that Christ knew and understood this perfectly and tried to indicate by His life how to live, which is simply. But when one conveniently uses the Old Testament (old consciousness without personal insight) to justify their desires, and only uses the New Testament (new consciousness with personal insight), to justify their belief that whatever they do is excused by their faith in Christ, then you have a situation where they are not following in the footsteps of their teacher.
The old argument is that Christ was not here to teach, but simply here to save us. Therefore, we can do pretty much as we please. That's very convenient, and that's fine if that is what you want to believe, but I posit that if you look at a life filled with accumulations, including the accumulation of material things, strong opinions, unyielding spiritual views and the super egos that result, you will find a deep level of stress and unhappiness cloaked in a deluded, trance-like belief that all is light and love.
This is Old Testament consciousness with no insight. This is delusion compared to the enlightening ideas of the New testament, according to the Gnostic Gospels. I think that Christ knew that desires and attachments to things that we accumulate eventually cause disappointment and unhappiness, and tried to show us another avenue by the way he lived His life.
The religious wars that have resulted from tight, unyielding views have been anything other than light and love. And the current atmosphere of hatred between Christians, Muslims and Jews, openly expounded upon in the media, will only lead to a nuclear war.
Then we all lose. And I'll just bet that the religious chicken hawks that are now squawking behind their safe computers that this conflict is our destiny as prophesized in the Bible will be the first to pee their pants when the mushroom clouds rise above their neighborhoods! There is a concept and a reality about proclaiming the desire to join God in heaven!
For Christ's sake! Christ was trying to teach peace! Don't you get it? In absence of material things, of strong opinions, of unyielding spiritual views and super egos . . . is love! Yes! Love cannot happen until those other things go away! You cannot love your neighbor as long as you have strong opinions and unyielding views, because you will try to persuade the poor chap to believe your way. Only then will you love your neighbors; when they give in and you can control them.
You know, Christian monks and nuns (not priests and preachers) understand this; they live a life of poverty. A Buddhist monk or nun, when they take on the robes, give away their families, careers, relationships and possessions in trade of three simple robes and a begging bowl. Why? Because they understand, at a very deep level, what it's all about, and it's all about letting go. This was what Christ was trying to teach us - letting go!
Letting go of everything is the true happiness. This is the basis of true generosity and loving you neighbor - which is a complete happiness that we, as human beings, can achieve because when we hold onto our material things, strong opinions, unyielding spiritual views and the super egos, we are always afraid that things will change. And in fact; everything does change. Material things come and go, our opinions will be challenged endlessly, our spiritual views will change as we mature, and our super egos will diminish as we age and experience the realities of life.
When we hold tight to these things, even such things as nationalism, politics, and religion, we become tight inside; our hearts become cramped, fearful of someone challenging us, another country, another religion, another political view or party.
And we become fearful, which leads to hatred and anger. We become uncertain because deep inside, beyond a conscious level, we really are uncertain about whether or not our opinions are true.
It's easy for us to give away things that we have no use for anymore, old clothes or old appliances, but not as easy with things that we still treasure.
Only when we no longer treasure the values of the Old Testament which bring us conflict, and discover the real meaning of the New testament, which brings peace, can we throw away those old values without a second thought.
If we can live a simple life, just enough to get by on, we will naturally begin to see the needs of others, and we will help them. And after we have enough money to live modestly, we begin to take care of the needs of others.
And as we relinquish all the stuff that we once thought made us happy but instead made us fearful, angry and hateful, we find ourselves slowly becoming really Christ-like in our actions and lifestyle. We become loving and generous instead of confrontational, striving and ambitious.
This is true generosity, where we follow our hearts and not our heads. This is the true happiness.
This Article has been viewed 1,286 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Very well done. Forgiveness also is a way to happiness. Thanks for sharing this.Great point, Michael! Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Best..........e
Thank you E. Raymond, for another wonderful and enlighteneing article.Hi John, Thank you for the kind comment. I always hope that my stuff, in some way, breaks down barriers.
Metta (loving kindness).......e
Enjoyed your article very much. I believe the Bible says love never fails.Very nice. Thank you Linda.
Best...............e
Thank you for writing this article. It was very inspiring to me.You are very welcome, Clairessa.
Metta........e
Your article kind of gets off track from your title, but thats okay.If you want learn more about the real Jesus, consult with someone who has dedicated their life to the research and study of his life from a scholarly perspective. I recommend "The Historical Jesus" by Gary Habermas.As far as the Gnostic Gospels being a reliable source of history, that can be another long discussion. Instead, I'd recommend writings by Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel on the subject. They both had the opportunity to talk a lot about this in their responses to the movie "The DaVinci Code." As compared to this, the book "The Historical Reliability of the Gospels" by Craig Blomberg presents a pretty complete argument as to why the Gospels are more reliable than any other historical documents of Biblical times.Hi Jim, Thanks for your comments and suggestions regarding books and opinions on Jesus. I guess I just don't have a tendency to believe second hand info that much, my gut tells me that Christians have gone off on a tangent somehow because of what Christians have become, which is rather elitist, i.e., "Christians know truth and everyone else's religion is false." That doesn't ring true somehow. and I'll just bet that Jesus had no intention of that ever happening, not if he professed love as indicated. I'd like to think so anyway, otherwise, Christians will forever set themselves apart from others resulting in constant conflict with just about everyone, which history has shown to be a fact.
Best........eThose references aren't as much for you as they are for other readers to consider. I realize that you aren't interested in considering any expert opinion on these subjects since you yourself are divine and have the only way to discerning truth. At least that is the impression you have given me in previous threads. As a Christian, I am not perfect, nor is any Christian. Christianity has not gone on any tangent and is not elitist. Christians believe what the Bible teaches about the unchanging moral standard to which we all aspire. The standard is unachievable in this life, but we are being perfected here and will be finished in heaven. We are taught to mature emotionally, spiritually, and in our minds. We are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Jesus absolutely taught that He is the only way to the truth, and He gives us free choice to choose Him or not, as He has given you, Raymond. The Bible teaches that we should share our faith, but it is each person's choice to accept it or not. That is how it has always been. The conflicts throughout history are a result of those who not only reject Christianity, but oppose it so passionately that they persecute the Church. Christianity, as a faith, has not been the aggressor of conflict, but the subject of it. I will defend your right to believe what you want to believe, but I will also oppose you when you attack my beliefs with accusations that are unfounded and/or incorrect.Respectfully,JimPeace. May you find happiness.
Metta..............e
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.